Disease resistance and hypocholesterolemia in yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata fed a non-fishmeal diet

The physiology of yellowtail fed a non-fishmeal diet was examined, with a specific interest in the role of taurine in disease resistance and cholesterol metabolism. Decrease of disease resistance in fish fed a non-fishmeal diet was confirmed by mortality due to natural infection with pseudotuberculosis and artificial infection with Lactococcus garvieae. It is suggested that the most important symptoms related to decrease of disease resistance in fish fed a non-fishmeal diet is anemia. Anemia was improved by supple mentation with taurine. Significant elevation of relative expression of HMG-CoA reductase mRNA in fish fed a non-fishmeal diet suggests that cholesterol synthesis would be activated and not dysfunctional. Plasma cholesterol of these fish was elevated to the levels of control fish by supplementation of both cholesterol and taurine. These results suggest that hypocholesterolemia observed in fish fed a non-fishmeal diet compared with a fishmeal diet would be caused by insufficient dietary cholesterol and decrease of endogenous cholesterol due to the lack of dietary taurine.